Study: Beer beats water for hydration

[MothBalls]

GRENADA, Spain, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Researchers at Granada University in Spain said drinking beer after strenuous physical activity can be beneficial for the body.

The scientists said their study found beer can help dehydrated people retain liquid better than water alone, The Telegraph, a British newspaper, reported Friday.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2007/...#ixzz1IuEmizDH

[NeonSamurai]

I think that study is utter rubbish considering beer has alcohol which is a diuretic, which dehydrates you. If I could read the actual study, I bet it has more holes in it than a strainer.

The only kind of beer that would be good, would be the dealcoholized stuff (it has carbs and bubbles). The last thing you want to do is consume alcohol after strenuous activity.


I'm not surprised though. Most of these kinds of studies are total nonsense (and I've seen plenty of them), where the people conducting the study have no understanding of scientific method or philosophy of science (how science works).

[Gargamel]

Well, it's dated 3 1/2 years ago, and it's just plain wrong.

Yes, beer will make you feel better and quench your thirst (it tastes good duh!), but alcohol is a diuretic. And carbonation replaces calories..... err wut? CO2 <> C6H12O6.

I think this is some weird belated april fools joke.

[NeonSamurai]

Think you are mixing up carbohydrates and carbonation. I think they said carbonation reduces thirst, and carbohydrates increase energy (second statement is true). I could be wrong though, can't be bothered to look at the article a second time.

[Gargamel]

Eff... your right....

Fried my brain working on that DARPA thing tonight... totally misread it.

It's still wrong.

[Feuer Frei!]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Most of these kinds of studies are total nonsense (and I've seen plenty of them), where the people conducting the study have no understanding of scientific method or philosophy of science (how science works).

Makes you wonder why they do them in the first place, really.

[NeonSamurai]

Nah not really, take a wild guess who funds these papers...

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Nah not really, take a wild guess who funds these papers...

FoxNews?


/ducks

[NeonSamurai]

heh, usually the people selling the products being 'researched'.

[Skybird]

Actually it is true that beer fights dehydration faster than water, because particle density in beer is "isotonic", and isotonic liquids can be assimiliated faster by the organism, than normal water. However, the effect is the greatest with what in German is called "Weißbier" and "Weizenbier".

For after sports, or long long bike-tours, I use a mix of beer and lemonade, 50-50. In German, it is a long-known drink, most popular in Southern Germany and Bavaria, where it is called "Radler". And there you already have it in the name: Radler translates (in a linear fashion) into "biker" (=> bicycle-rider).

An also isotonic alternative is alcohol-free beer, I have read just days ago. But not all taste acceptable.

[Bakkels]

No worries people, I'll take it upon myself to research this tonight. Anything for Subsim!

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Bakkels

No worries people, I'll take it upon myself to research this tonight. Anything for Subsim!

A noble thing you're doing, lad.

I remember in training, they always used to tell us to avoid the soft drinks because the carbonation dehydrated you. Didn't know if it was true, but I can tell you that I don't drink much pop anymore; mostly water, coffee, and beer.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Actually it is true that beer fights dehydration faster than water, because particle density in beer is "isotonic", and isotonic liquids can be assimiliated faster by the organism, than normal water. However, the effect is the greatest with what in German is called "Weißbier" and "Weizenbier".

For after sports, or long long bike-tours, I use a mix of beer and lemonade, 50-50. In German, it is a long-known drink, most popular in Southern Germany and Bavaria, where it is called "Radler". And there you already have it in the name: Radler translates (in a linear fashion) into "biker" (=> bicycle-rider).

An also isotonic alternative is alcohol-free beer, I have read just days ago. But not all taste acceptable.

While Beer and your Radler (sounds interesting, gotta be a weird flavor though), is isotonic, the alcohol is still a diuretic. It may be absorbed faster, but it get's excreted even faster.

A diuretic basically increases kidney function, increasing urine output. Side effects of diuretics are Dehydration and Hypotension.

So the fluid gets absorbed quicker, and you do feel better quicker, and part of that is from the alcohol have some sedative effects, but shortly after you are in a worse state when you start losing even more fluid.

Alcohol is one of the worst things to consume when your body is in crisis, as it masks a lot of the symptoms of the underlying cause.

If you truly wanted an isotonic solution, drink saline. .9% salt water.

Or you could drink Gatorade or another sports drink which has been designed to be isotonic and rehydrate and replenish nutrients as quick as possible.

[Skybird]

Gatorade and accoprding drinks I find to be some of the worst stuff you can drink, it always made me feel very bad, and "heavy". On Radler, consider that the ammount of alcohol in it is very small, and that there is also quite some ammount of sugar in that drink, and this when you physicall are running in "higher tunes".

I just can describe the effect 0.5 l of that brew, cooled, has on me when I am exhaustedly standing on top of the Teutoburger Wald hills, a geographical annoyance I meet after havinf done around 30 km on bike in hot weather. It is slightly (slightly!) relaxing (alcohol) and enpowering (sugar) at the same time, and helps to get me cooled qickly. It is definitely a revitalisation, and kills thirst very quickly. And now, it does not return after even shorter time.

Again, mind you, we do not talk about hard drinks and 0.5 l of beer, but just 0.25 of light beer.

Specially mixed sports drinks with added jkinerals and such, are most effective when being drunk is small quantities, but regularly, every 15-20 minutes two or three swallows. It is not the drink of choice when doing a major break during long sports activity, I say from private experience, it is better used dfuring the activity/tour, but frequently. To get refreshed and powered-up during a major break, Radler or a light beer is the superior choice.

I do a lot of biking here during the warm half of the year, and have tested lots of that stuff, and manually created "mixtures". I have come back to Radler, and an isotonic specialised sports drink that over here you only get in pharmacies, developed by the Sporthochschule Köln - it tastes terrible, but really works well when being consumed regularly during activity, in small quantities. It increases muscles' endurance. But Gatorade, Red Bull and such - forget it, it is nonsense. Some longer time ago I saw a docu on TV they examined it both in laboratory and with athletes in the real world. The finding was not really surprisingf for me: a normal coup of coffee vitlaises oyu more and battles tireness better than a can of Red Bull or even two, and the special effect of special sports drinkio like Gatorade and others you buy in the supermarket the doctors were not able to demonstrate. Coffee - or green or black tea! Cheaper, and superior.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

Or you could drink Gatorade or another sports drink which has been designed to be isotonic and rehydrate and replenish nutrients as quick as possible.

I always thought that Gatorade was good in small quantities but could not take the place of water. If you drink nothing but Gatorade after exercising you will be more dehydrated at the end.

When I was in sports we used to drink one cup of Gatorade and then many cups of water

But I freely confess this something we were told to do and I have not researched it myself.